Ban on refugees’ marriages unconstitutional – SCA

Three years after he popped the question, a Nigerian pastor will finally be able to marry his SA sweetheart, after the SCA ruled that the Department of Home Affairs’ ban on asylum seekers’ marriages is unconstitutional. A Daily Dispatch report says Home Affairs has been ordered to scrap the policy banning asylum-seeker marriages. This follows a directive that was issued by Home Affairs in September 2016 that forbade marriages for asylum seekers. In 2018 the Eastern Cape High Court (Port Elizabeth) ruled that the ban was unconstitutional and a violation of international agreements. In the SCA, the department argued that the directive was introduced as part of a drive to prevent ‘fake marriages’. The three-year court battle was launched by Nigerian pastor Emmanuel Paulking Oche Ochogwu (36), who was prevented from marrying Zizipho Mkumande (26) in 2016. The couple are married in customary law but have been unable to register their marriage. Ochogwu said the directive barred him both from registering his customary marriage and from solemnising a civil marriage.